It has arrived! After a brief stop-over at Quarantine, the tea arrived on Friday. I am very pleased with this, my second purchase from Hibiki-an. The tea arrived inside Japanese-style wrapping paper and included within was a postcard from the company and two informative sheets on tea brewing and storage.
The Sencha Premium (shincha) came vacuum-packed in a foil-lined pouch and the Mattcha Premium (also vacuum-sealed in foil came in a delighful little container. I always look forward to that wonderfully grassy aroma when opening a packet of shincha. And this batch did not disappoint. It's deep, rich greeness was as evident in its scent as much as its appearance. I must admit my first brew was not overly successful (not enough leaf/too much water). By the time I realised it was too late to try to correct (as steepage time is crucial with shincha). So I simply resolved to consume (the still very drinkable) first brew, then try again. This time I took more care with measuring the tea, the water and the temperature, resulting in a fantastic brew. Watching the jade-green liquor in the cup as I poured this brew confirmed I had got it right this time. The natural sweetness tempered by the characteristic astringency is so well balanced (perhaps even more so than the previous year's harvest). The tea also holds up well to three infusions (and may perhaps handle a fourth if the correct water temperature is used throughout). In summary, another fine new season sencha from Hibiki-an!
This is the first mattcha I have purchased from Hibiki-an. As I opened the pouch inside the container, I was immediately struck by the intensity and brightness of the powder's colour - it is an almost flourescent light green. Getting some of the powder on my fingers while opening it, I tasted the tea straight on my tongue and could instantly tell that this was indeed a fine mattcha (which is all the more immpressive when one considers that they produce two mattcha's of even higher quality than this one). I prepared a chawan of this mattcha, using water at just over 70 degrees Celcius, whisking it vigourously with my chasen for around a minute, by which time a pleasant layer of froth had appeared on the tea's surface. My previous mattcha purchase was around seven dollars cheaper than this one (thought I'd see what an anonymous, lower-end-of-the scale mattcha tasted like), and the contrast between the two is phenomenal! When one breaks down the seven dollar difference across the entire number of bowls of mattcha can be made from a 40 gram container of the stuff, the few cents (or less) per bowl extra is more than worth it. The (never to be bought again) mattcha was so flat in colour and flavour, whilst this Hibiki-an mattcha has such a rich, intensely grassy flavour with a wonderful sweetness. The problem I face is that I want to enjoy this tea for longer than the three months it will remain fresh for, so must ensure that I don't let it get bad by 'keeping it for special occasions'. (I let this happen to the first mattcha I ever bought and ended up making mattcha icecream with it!) All this writing about tea is making me itchy to get to the kitchen and make a pot of one tea or another, so that's all for now.
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Thursday, July 03, 2008
New Tea Arrivals
I recently ordered three teas from the Tea Centre (http://www.theteacentre.com.au), my first purchase from this company. The tea they stocked which I was particularly interested in was a Yunnan Finest FOP (flowery orange pekoe). Their website described this tea as follows: This remarkable tea is littered with fine tips for a delicate yet full flavour. This indeed is a fair description. The appearance of the leaves is an intriguing caramel colour with plenty of tips throughout. It brews into a rich reddish colour in the cup, not dissimilar to a standard Yunnan, (I was expecting a much lighter liquor based on the colour of the leaf). It's aroma is suggestive of peaches and other stone fruits with some maltiness also evident. I was impressed with the depth of flavour and also its ability to maintain this depth through at least three infusions. Overall, a wonderful tea which has replaced Yunnan Golden Monkey as my current favourite black tea.
The second tea is a Chinese Green tea called Lin Yun White Downy. The leaves are slightly wrinkled in appearance and quite large, blended with white tips (as the name suggests). It is therefore quite a delicate tea but still displaying the characteristically unassuming astringency of a Chinese green tea. The website suggests it has a smoky flavour, although I could detect very little of this during my first sampling. I must brew another pot tonight and see what happens. It was a gentler tea than I anticipated, so will need to use more leaf and perhaps slightly hotter water (I used around 75 degrees Celcius the first time) in order to bring out its characteristics more fully. An enjoyable alternative to Long Jing (Dragonwell) or Gunpowder.
The final tea I ordered was a Formosa Fancy Oolong (Taiwan). This is described as a semi-fermented tea, neat leaf, aromatic & fragrant character. 'Fancy' refers to the grade of the tea (higher than 'choice'. This is a much smoother style of oolong than many of the Chinese oolongs I've had, perhaps slightly stronger than a 'green-style' Ti Kuan Yin, yet with a quite different taste altogether. It would be more accurate to describe it as a smoother version of a Wuyi Rock Oolong, because it definately appears more oxidised than most Ti Kuan Yin's I've tried. Like the Lin Yun tea, I was a bit over-cautious with the amount of tea and temperature of the water, so will try increasing both slightly and will expect the aromatic qualities to become more pronounced.
I'm very pleased with all three teas and will consider buying from this company again sometime. I am having difficulty finding an Australian online tea company who stocks the range of teas of the American companies like Uptons and CooksShopHere.
Looking forward to the imminent arrival of my Shincha and Mattcha purchases from Hibiki-an (http://www.hibiki-an.com), a Japanese, family owned tea farm (which I ordered from last year - see earlier post). I should have sampled and reviewed these in the next few days.
Until then,
Happy Gongfu-cha.
The second tea is a Chinese Green tea called Lin Yun White Downy. The leaves are slightly wrinkled in appearance and quite large, blended with white tips (as the name suggests). It is therefore quite a delicate tea but still displaying the characteristically unassuming astringency of a Chinese green tea. The website suggests it has a smoky flavour, although I could detect very little of this during my first sampling. I must brew another pot tonight and see what happens. It was a gentler tea than I anticipated, so will need to use more leaf and perhaps slightly hotter water (I used around 75 degrees Celcius the first time) in order to bring out its characteristics more fully. An enjoyable alternative to Long Jing (Dragonwell) or Gunpowder.
The final tea I ordered was a Formosa Fancy Oolong (Taiwan). This is described as a semi-fermented tea, neat leaf, aromatic & fragrant character. 'Fancy' refers to the grade of the tea (higher than 'choice'. This is a much smoother style of oolong than many of the Chinese oolongs I've had, perhaps slightly stronger than a 'green-style' Ti Kuan Yin, yet with a quite different taste altogether. It would be more accurate to describe it as a smoother version of a Wuyi Rock Oolong, because it definately appears more oxidised than most Ti Kuan Yin's I've tried. Like the Lin Yun tea, I was a bit over-cautious with the amount of tea and temperature of the water, so will try increasing both slightly and will expect the aromatic qualities to become more pronounced.
I'm very pleased with all three teas and will consider buying from this company again sometime. I am having difficulty finding an Australian online tea company who stocks the range of teas of the American companies like Uptons and CooksShopHere.
Looking forward to the imminent arrival of my Shincha and Mattcha purchases from Hibiki-an (http://www.hibiki-an.com), a Japanese, family owned tea farm (which I ordered from last year - see earlier post). I should have sampled and reviewed these in the next few days.
Until then,
Happy Gongfu-cha.
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